Dr Hedley, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Plant Quarantine, noted that development work within the IPPC had continued over last two years.
Regional standards
The work during this last period involved the first meeting of a APPPC working group to draft standards, 17 to 19 June 2001, and the first meeting of the APPPC regional Standards Committee, 29 October to 1st November 2002. After the standards had been drafted and checked by the APPPC Standards Committee, the draft standards were forwarded to all members for consideration. As there were few comments from members on the standards, a further meeting of the APPPC Standards Committee was not held. The comments were considered by the secretariat and the Chair of the Standards Committee and the results of this consideration were presented to the meeting.
After some discussion of a point raised by China, the meeting supported the publication of the reports of the APPPC regional Standards Committee on the APPPC web site.
Regional technical consultations on draft international standards for phytosanitary measures
The third consultation was held 6 to 8 August 2002. The second consultation was held prior to the 22nd APPPC session and the fourth will be held following the 23rd APPPC session. Recommendations for amending draft ISPM’s are sent to the Standards Committee for consideration. The third consultation was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the IPPC secretariat.
Information exchange mechanisms for the APPPC
The information exchange requirements for members and the development of a mechanism was discussed at the meeting during 29 October to 1 November 2002. David Nowell described how an information exchange system for the APPPC could operate within the IPP. The meeting went on to sketch out the list of subjects headings that would be included in an APPPC website.
South American leaf blight pest risk analysis (SALB PRA)
The PRA TCP has been approved for some time but FAO has been unable to locate an expert consultant/facilitator.
Local border plant quarantine project
This regional project requires the participation of three countries. FAO has not been able to arrange this.
